1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of floor covering and flooring protection and, more specifically, to formation and use of floor covering and flooring protection devices. Additionally, the present invention relates to floor covering and flooring protection systems and devices that protect floor coverings from furniture type structures which may cause an imprint in the floor covering.
2. Brief Description of Related Art
Strands of fabric, typically nylon, with a surface of upright yarns are generally used to make pile in a carpet. For example, the nylon can be tufted or woven into a polypropylene primary backing to which it is bound by a predominantly latex binder applied to the underside of the backing. The pile tufted into the primary backing by itself is flexible and relatively stable, resisting buckling, wrinkling, or distortion caused by furniture. This product, however, does not have the stability, mass or tuft bind to be a carpet. It is, in essence, merely a piece of textile. Typically, integrity is added to this primary backing by the addition of a secondary backing glued to the primary backing to hold the tufts in place. The secondary backing typically takes the form of a latex binder which binds the tuft bundles protruding below the primary backing. The secondary backing adds weight, stability and durability.
A carpet pad is typically laid on a floor structure onto which a carpet is to be positioned. The carpet is horizontally positioned on this carpet pad so that the backing rests against the carpet pad whereby the carpet piles protrude vertically upward away from the backing. When furniture is placed upon the laid carpet for a period of time, the furniture has the effect of tending to crush the carpet pile, the carpet backing, and the carpet pad. The crushing effect forms indentations in this carpeting material. Once the pile gets crushed, it generally can be brushed or vacuumed to restore it nearly to its original form. When the backing gets crushed, however, it generally will not return to its original form. Also, once a pad gets crushed over a period of time, it often will not return to its original form. The crushed backing and pad typically will be visible through the carpet pile as indentations or marks. Thus, once furniture is placed on laid carpet, other than for a very short period of time, the furniture may not be able to be rearranged without leaving the indentations or marks visible on the carpet. Such extended placement of the furniture results in permanent damage to the carpet. The only recourse may be to either replace the carpet and carpet pad or position other furniture or coverings over the indentations. Replacement of the carpet and carpet pad is generally not feasible unless something is done to prevent destruction of the new carpet by the furniture, as described above.
Prior furniture supports or carpet protectors have been constructed to attempt to solve this problem. Some of these early devices included pedestals or bases generally formed of a single homogeneous material such as glass, rubber, plastic, or the like placed under the legs or support structure of the furniture in an attempt to distribute the furniture load over a given area of floor material. Other similar devices included furniture caps or coasters developed in an attempt to protect carpet pile also by distributing the load caused by a particular piece of furniture over a larger area. These devices were unable to solve the problem, as after a long period of time, a depression or indentation would nevertheless result. These caps, plates, pedestals, or coasters merely made larger residual marks in the carpet backing and carpet pad.
Later devices, especially with respect to legged furniture, included a form of plate or cup generally shaped at the upper surface to receive the bottom of the furniture leg or support structure. The lower surface of the plate or cup typically included pegs or posts with a length greater than the thickness of the pile of the particular carpet so that when the tips of the pegs or posts were brought into load-bearing engagement with the weave or backing of the carpet, the lower surface of the plate or cup did not bear on the surface of the pile, but rather was elevated thereabove. The tips of the pegs or posts were sufficiently small enough to divide and pass between the pile fibers without tending to tuck the fibers beneath the pile surface but small enough that the tips would pierce the woven backing under the weight of the furniture. The pegs or posts, however, did not pierce through the backing material of the carpet or the carpet pad. Though marginally successful in causing a somewhat waffle-shaped indentation which was more readily masked by brushing or vacuuming the pile if the furniture was frequently moved, the ultimate result was still a crushing of the carpet and especially of the carpet pad.
Some subsequent devices, especially with respect to legged furniture, also included a plate of sufficient size to receive a bottom structural member of piece of furniture. The lower surface of the plate of this device included pins of a sufficient length to pierce the carpet backing and the carpet pad so as to engage a flat floor surface or a flat protective surface placed under the carpet material. This device, however, was limited as it had insufficient ability to compensate for irregularities on the floor surface. This inability typically frequently resulted in unstable upper surface support of the furniture structure, and instability resulting in a weakened structural integrity regarding the pins or posts.
Further, problems with the flooring that support the carpet are not always due to minor irregularities in the flooring surface. For example, carpeted flooring, by its nature often includes a conventional carpet tack strip surrounding the perimeter of the carpeting. The carpet tack strip generally consists of an elongated strip of wood, whereby a series of relatively short nails or tacks are driven through the strip such that the head of each tack is flush with the underside of the strip, and the point of each tack extends above the upper surface of the strip. When laying carpet on a floor, the strips are nailed, stapled or otherwise secured to the floor adjacent the edges of the room in which the carpet is being laid. The carpet pad is cut and placed such that its edge is located adjacent to the outer edge of the strip, and the carpet is laid over the pad and strip and retained in place by the upwardly facing points of the tacks.
Earlier devices were not designed to deal with this carpet tack strip. If the furniture support or carpet protector device of the prior art was partially laid over the carpet tack strip, the result would be an unstable placement of the furniture, which would become increasingly unstable as the carpet and carpet pad further compressed due to the weight of the furniture. Thus, furniture utilizing any one of the above mentioned earlier devices had to be spaced sufficiently from the edge of the room so that the device would not engage the carpet tack strip.
Accordingly, it can be appreciated that there still exists a need for a furniture support and carpet protector device and methods of a sufficient strength to support the weight of the furniture when placed on a somewhat irregular surface and which can be adjusted manually or automatically to compensate for the weight of the furniture and irregularity of the surface while providing a minimal detrimental effect on the carpet or carpet pad.